Of promises and raindrops
by KagerouJo
Summary: Because no matter how harsh she treated him, whether as a punching bag or a lowly servant, Natsu Dragion never thought any less of Lucy Ashley. /Edo Nalu drabble series/
1. 01 Confusion

There were plenty of things people did not understand about Natsu Dragion.

First was exactly how he was an awesome speed demon one moment, and a crybaby the very instant the boy gets pulled out of his car.

Second, his obsession for a lacrima-powered speed machine.

But the one that always mixed people's minds was how he would always stick with, and never stay away, from the guild's resident demon and torture queen: Lucy Ashley.

Every day, and it is not a mistake to omit the word 'almost', he got several beatings, scoldings, punishments and about all types of obliteration attempts from the blonde woman. But nevertheless, he stayed close, talked to, obeyed and listened to her. It was even a wonder how he still managed to stay alive. They didn't dare question Lucy about the matter either, lest they had a death wish.

But truthfully, to Natsu, the answer was very simple. It was because he promised he would always be there for her, no matter what happened, no matter what the circumstances. He would never leave her of his own will. Because for the girl orphaned from a very young age, a girl taught that she was all alone, a girl who was told she was unwanted, he was her pillar of support, although no one else but the both of them could see it.

And Natsu was more than determined to keep his promise.

So that's why, no matter how many bruises he got, no matter how many broken bones, no matter how many trips to and from the hospital he had to take, he would still stay by her side.

Because he was her best friend.


	2. 02 Agitation

"Lisanna-san,"

The alabaster-haired barmaid turned from wiping a glass to meet face to face with a tuft of pink and goggles ― Natsu Dragion.

"Hello, Natsu!" She greeted, "Can I help you?"

"Is Lucy-san back yet?" The boy sat down at one of the bar stools while Lisanna finished wiping the glass and setting it on one of the cupboards, "It's been three weeks already. She back due back the first week."

The barmaid sadly shook her head, "Sorry, Natsu. We haven't even had contact with her yet."

Natsu let out a dejected sigh and slumped on top of the counter, folding his arms and burying his face in them. Lisanna sensed his distress, "Come on, Natsu. She'll be fine, she can take care of herself."

"I know," he mumbled, not bothering to lift his head up, "But…" he whispered to himself, "I'm worried"

The silver-haired girl however, picked up his whisper, much to his chagrin, "That's sweet of you, Natsu"

He lifted his head in surprise and blushed, "Tha-thank you," was all he could muster to say

"But, I am worried too. She's never been gone this long. It'd usually take one week, two weeks tops. An additional week is way too much that is looks a bit suspicious," said Lisanna, her expression contorting into a frown

Natsu looked at the surface of the counter for a while, "Lisanna-san, do you happen to know what kind of mission Lucy-san took?"

She nodded, "An extermination mission,"

"Who hired her?"

"A band of villagers from Crouna"

"What did she have to exterminate?"

"A monster, although the request paper never said what type of monster. I'm guessing it was strong for it to be put up as S class."

"Ah, I see," he mumbled quietly to himself

"Why do you ask, Natsu?" the take-over mage asked, "Is there something wrong?"

Natsu, who seemed to be deep in thought a minute ago, lifted his head to look at the young girl and smiled, shaking his head from side to side, "Oh, nothing. I was just curious," then, he pushed himself out of his seat and headed towards the door, "I'll be leaving now. Thank you, Lisanna-san."

Her silver hair bobbed slightly as the girl gave out a small giggle when Natsu was out of sight, "Really. He's at it again, ne? I wonder what he'll do this time…"

"Do what this time?"

Lisanna turned her head and met Gray this time, "Oh, hey Gray"

The older man smiled and took a seat, "What do you mean by what he'll do this time?"

"Well, Lucy hasn't been back for three weeks now and Natsu seemed a little _worried. _If you catch my drift," she winked at him

"Oh," Gray nodded in understanding before chuckling, "Ah, it has been a while since the last _incident. _So I guess we're in for another show."

"Gray, you should try talking to your best friend about his _impulses_ sometimes, it'll be dangerous if he gets into trouble," Lisanna giggled

"Well, I can't do anything about that," the dark-haired man shrugged, "Besides, he's pretty good on going undetected."

Natsu pulled his vehicle over to a stop as soon as he reached the run-down warehouse. Earlier he had kindly _asked_ a few of the people who had sent the request to the guild, confirmed that Lucy did indeed come there, exterminate the monster and finish. Only to be back-stabbed by the villagers and sold off to one of the dark guilds who had a grudge with Fairy Tail for a while. What can we say? Money's evil.

He eyed the entrance of the warehouse, the entire building was made of metal. Good, looks like he didn't up to set up special procedures. No, he wasn't going to do anything rash or dangerous. He was just going to _politely ask the people keeping Lucy to kindly hand over his nakama._ That was it. No big deal.

If you didn't count the container of gasoline, the lighter and the arsenal of weapons he stacked at the backseat of his car.

He got out of his vehicle, grabbed the container and stuffed the lighter in his pocket and took his sword with him. He slowly walked towards the entrance, not cowering in fear despite the fact that he was no longer in his vehicle.

This was his best friend that was in danger.

So proceeded to go ahead with his plan with a grim scowl on his face.

"Mysterious fire strikes an abandoned warehouse," Lisanna read the newspaper headline carefully while settting down Gray's drink, "Zero dead, many injured"

The older man gulped his drink down before laughing, "I told you it wouldn't go bad," he commented

"The royal army has identified the fire victims to be an entire dark guild taking refuge in the building. Many were unconscious from injuries, although the injuries appeared like cut wounds and not burns. A few who were conscious either refused to talk or were stuttering from trauma," said Lisanna as she continued to read the rest of the article, Gray had already started to try and stifle his laughter

"Based on the evidence, the authorities have suspicions that this was arson and is a part of one of the mysterious fires that have occurred around the country over the past…" At this point, the girl had no choice but to just giggle, "Oh my goodness, and they still have no idea," she couldn't choose whether to call the army dense or stupid. The latter won.

"Over the past months," she continued after calming down, "What is truly interesting is how the fires seem to target only criminals and leave no corpses or murders," the girl folded the paper and tucked it into her pocket, "That's pretty much about what we have"

"Even the army can't trace it, that guy's really just that good," Gray propped an elbow and set his chin on the palm of his hand, "I'm telling you, if he wanted to, he could be a mastermind criminal or something. He's pretty smart."

"Funny thing is how _she _never complains about his methods, right?" laughed Lisanna while tenderly spotting the table in the corner of the guild, where Lucy Ashley, who was currently forced to sit there and resist the urge to smack her pink-haired companion due to her numerous fatal injuries, was glaring at her best friend who had most likely made some comment about her being a softy.

And both Gray and Lisanna simply smiled at their loyalty to each other.

_**Okay, the page ruiner, the author's note. Let me clear up some things:**_

_**[1] This takes places BEFORE the Edolas arc, when Lisanna was still in Edolas.**_

_**[2] I thought Natsu would act like that because he is extremely loyal to Lucy Ashley. One notable example was during the Edolas arc, when Lucy Ashley ran away from Earthland Lucy and Natsu and asked Natsu Dragneel to help them. How do I deduce that it is a display of loyalty? At that time Natsu Dragneel was not in the guild, meaning he was currently driving (possibly looking for Ashley), seeing as he couldn't be anywhere other than his vehicle, so meaning when Ashley asked him the favor, he was in his car. As he is in his car, his confidence and rudeness spikes over the top and he could have easily said no to Ashley without feeling inferior (Heck, he could have given Knightwalker a run for her money by speeding recklessly), however he did not. He chose to do what she asked, despite the risk of getting caught himself.**_

_**[3] Weapon wielder Natsu? Yes, Natsu Dragion is proven to be capable of fighting (Edolas arc, when they came to the aid of their Earthland counterparts). Another one of my theories is his body build. Nobody gets a muscled body shape from just driving, even if you do drive really fast, I happen to know a lot of fat speed demons. We've pretty much seen that he has a pretty good chest, so I assumed that his physical appearance is the spitting image of Natsu Dragneel. So my theory is that he can pack a good punch or a kick, or as seen in Edolas, at least wield weapons. Heavy weapons for that matter, nobody gets toned muscles from simply speeding or picking up a stick. Weaved together with his loyalty, I'm guessing he has occasionally saved Ashley using combat weapons. (Sword, Jackhammer, Flail, Mace, Pitchfork, Musica, Rapier, Chainsaw, or whatever, you name it.)**_

_**[4] I apologize for switching their roles and tropes. Ashley became the **_**Badass in Distress**_**.**_


	3. 03 Loners are freaks

_**Yes, so this thing has become something like a drabble series. Not that I mind, anyway. A side note though; I DON'T CURSE. I hate cursing. However, if it is for the sake of writing characters 'in-character', then…I guess I'll have to. Bear with me though, my morality is at stake. Mild warning for this chapter: AU. Enjoy!  
**__

I am an outcast in my very own school. I don't have any friends, I spend my time reading at the library, and my every once in a while, my classmates would notice and say 'Oh, you were there the whole time?'. But, pardon me, I shouldn't be burdening you with my own problems at this time. However, I am not ending this without doing the basic courtesy of introducing myself; My name is Natsu Dragion, and I study at Edolas Academy. I am what people in my school have branded a 'loner'.

Now, almost everyone ― particularly stereotypes ― have come to a very unsupported conclusion that loners are freaks. I can very much strike that claim and say that loners are _not_ freaks. Have you ever been branded a loner? If so, then you should very much know how I feel when they lump loners and freaks in the same category. Pretty much nobody talks to me in school. I drive there, with my awesome machine of speed, I go to class, go home, do homework and sleep. That's about it. No hanging out with friends, no eating lunch together and most definitely no homework sharing ― maybe because that's just against me.

But I can't say that nobody's spoken a word to me since recently, someone has. And let me tell you, it was absolutely terrifying. Her name was Lucy Ashley, transferee of the school year, in all her skull-accessory glory. Our encounter actually stemmed from her own curiosity of my hair color. And no, it is not pink, it's salmon. Go through my birth certificate on that one.

The first time I met her, I was sitting under one of the school's Sakura trees in the grounds, reading a book. I was way too enamored with the piece of literature to not notice her presence and miss the chance of escaping and through the entire school year without anybody talking to me. Oh well, can't do anything about it now.

"Hey, you!"

I flinched, before closing my book and looking up. She was actually crouching down, so when I did look up, we were face to face with a mere three inches separating us, and I yelped and backed up quickly, pressing the back to my head against the tree trunk.

"Did you dye your hair or something?" she tilted her head to the side with a questioning look on her face

I nervously stuttered, "N-no"

"It's natural?!" disbelief painted her face

"Yes"

"Hah, you've got some weird hair color right there, pinky," Okay. My hair isn't pink, my hair isn't pink, my hair isn't pink.

"It's―!"

"I like it."

Wait, what?! She liked it? She _liked _it?! She comes to me, asking whether or not my hair color is natural, I almost die of fear and she tells me she likes it? What are the odds?

"Thanks," I manage to utter, "It's not pink, by the way. It's salmon."

"Oh, you're talking back to me, now?"

Bad Natsu! You don't talk to people, you should NEVER talk to people. Most especially not a delinquent-looking transfer student who can probably beat you to a pulp anytime.

"You've got some spunk. Most people in school don't talk back to me," Maybe because you're pretty scary, especially with you cracking your knuckles there, "My name's Lucy Ashley. You?"

"Na-Natsu Dragion," I pulled my knees closer to my chest and raised my arms to cover my head, I didn't even mind the discarded book on the grass.

"Well, _nice to meet you, _Natsu," she grinned and pulled on my hair so we could meet face to face again, I blanched, "Since you're the first of the wimps here to talk back to me, let's start with the rules concerning on approaching me, shall we?"  
_

The second time I met her, it was a lot worse than the first.

"What are you doing?"

I cringed and turned behind me, "H-hey, Lucy-san! What brings you here today?"

"Research, of course. No way do I come here to read books about pansy love stories," she grumbled before taking the seat next to me and setting her books down, "So answer me, what are you doing?"

"Umm, reading?" If I forgot to mention it, we're at the library at the moment.

"Reading what?" She raised an eyebrow and eyed the cover of the book I was holding, the white background with a few silver markings and the small black letters that indicated the title was enough to put a look of recognition on her face, "Whoa, you read this too?!"

She snatched the book out of my grasp, "No way, I thought a wimp like you didn't like murder stories"

"It's not really a murder story, more like a mystery story," I reasoned while trying to inch away, just in case she tried to _discipline _me again

She looked at me "Three people died"

"Two people tried to investigate it," I responded

"The killer attempted suicide"

"It didn't go as planned"

"By self immolation, Dragion"

"But he didn't die," I swore my uniform should be soaking wet from sweating fits of nervousness now

She stared at me for a while before closing the book and handing it to me, "Still, I'm surprised you'd read that."

"I'm surprised you recognized it," I chuckled a bit as she handed the book to me, "I thought you weren't the type to read, since all you is rather…eeek!" I trailed off too far and now her death glare was piercing through my soul

"Are you saying I look like the illiterate retard type of person?"

"N-no! I…"

_BAM! Smack! Crack!_

I was hospitalized that day.  
_

Another time that I met her, the weather wasn't very good. It was pouring hard and I was currently trying to get home. Not that I minded anyway, since I was driving my _awesome_ car. Yup, I'm not rich, but I saved enough to buy this awesome baby covered in shiny black glass.

I turned left down the road while the speakers were on full volume of my favorite band, the rain was getting heavier now, I should probably hurry. I hit the break and turned off the speakers when I saw a box on the side of the road though, it was left open with a blanket hanging loosely on the edges. I grabbed the umbrella on the backseat and made my way out.

"Hey there," I crouched down as soon as I reached the box, the entire thing was soaking wet, blanket included, "What are you doing here, little guy?" I tucked the end of the umbrella between the side of my torso and my elbow and picked up the white and orange lump that was shivering in the cold. A cute little Akita puppy.

The latter seemed to notice me and licked my left hand, I smiled a bit. Who was cruel enough to leave such a cute puppy here?

"So you like puppies, huh?"

I turned my head to the source of the voice. By this time, I've pretty much noticed her tendency to just approach me in the situations I didn't expect her to. Lucy was there, looking at me with a bored look on her face ― only she didn't have an umbrella and was soaking wet. Okay, now who in the world would let a teenage girl walk in the rain all by herself? Maybe she wasn't a cute little puppy but…okay, maybe I did think she was cute.

I took the puppy into my right hand and used the other to hold the end of the umbrella. Then stood up and walked towards her, I put the umbrella over our heads so neither of us would get wet. I noticed that I was a bit taller than, perhaps it was because of the fact that I was a year older than her, although that's never stopped her from breaking my bones before. She looked at me again, curiosity on her face this time, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to prevent to prevent you from getting any wetter than you already are," I smiled. This wasn't something I'd do on a daily basis, especially since the option of getting injured by her is always by the corner. But, I just felt like I had to do this.

"What are you doing going out in the rain, anyway?" I mustered all my courage and spoke up. Her expression seemed to turn grim.

"Bad day, is all," she scoffed

"Bad day or are you trying to get pneumonia?"

"Both."

I laughed. Lucy noticed and looked at me with wide eyes, well I can't blame her, and it's the first she's heard me laugh.

"Well, you want a lift?" I asked. I was getting the hang of talking to her.

She seemed indecisive for a while, "I'm soaking wet, Dragion."

"It's fine," if it was her, that is. If were anybody else who wasn't blonde, female, with warm chocolate brown orbs, and whose name didn't happen to be Lucy Ashley, I'd sic 'em dead if they got a drop of water of my baby's seat.

"If you say so," she made her way to the back seat while I settled on the front seat. I put the puppy on the seat next to mine before grabbing my bag, taking out two towels and handing one over to the passenger in the back seat. She took it and proceeded to dry herself while I was drying the puppy.

"You really like puppies, hmm?" she asked again

"Yeah," I smiled while the Akita was snuggling close to my lap as I held him, "They're pretty cute."

"So you like cute things?"

Yes. And you just so happened to fit my description of cute.

I blushed and decided to say something else other than my train of thought, "Yes,"

She was the one who laughed this time, "You seem the type,"

I brought the puppy back to the opposite seat and looked at her from the mirror, "So, should I drop you off at your place?"

"Yeah"

I turned the key, "Can you tell me directions though? I've never been to your house."

That earned me a grin from her, "Sure thing, Natsu"  
_

The next time I met her after that was another bullying session, only this time, she wasn't the bully.

"Gah!" I groaned in pain as the baseball bat hit my head, felt something wet trailing down my head, that was probably blood.

"What a wimp," I tried hard to keep awake and look at the three pushovers who were looking at me, "I don't understand what that punk chick hangs around him for."

Punk chick? Lucy?

"Can't even defend himself,"one of them scoffed. Because, mister, I don't want to get in trouble with the principal!

One of them raised the bat again, I held my breath and waited for the impact to come.

Only it didn't.

The sound of feet hitting a head came to my ears and I tried to pry my eyes open. The sight that met me was one with Lucy planting both of her feet onto the bat-wielder's cheek before jumping off and landing perfectly on the ground.

"What do you think you three idiots are doing?" she cracked her knuckles with a furious expression on her face. I could've sworn the two who were left standing paled when she did that.

"I thought I already made it clear," she gritted her teeth, "That nobody hurts Natsu Dragion but me!"

If anybody paid attention that afternoon, they'd hear the faint sounds of bones cracking and two people screaming bloody murder. I, on the other hand, didn't know which situation was worse in this scenario. The 'My Prey' situation, or the 'Badass Heroine, Wimpy Victim' situation, either way, I was in bad shape.

I struggled to get on my feet when the fight was over.I didn't notice that Lucy walked over to me and wiped the blood off my forehead, "That's a shiner, you probably would've gotten concussion if they hit you with that bat that other time"

"Thanks," I smiled weakly, "I guess you're going to beat me up even worse to show the school I'm your prey, huh?"

The shocked expression on her face was one I didn't expect, "What on Earthland are you talking about? I came to return a favor, dimwit!"

"A favor?" I sounded really stupid with that one

"You drove me home that rainy day, I wasn't just going to watch a bunch of cowards beat you bleeding and have the risk of you getting amnesia," she spat before digging her non-bloody hand into her pocket

"What wrong with amnesia?" I asked curiously

"No way in hell I'm letting you have amnesia, I'll incarcerate you," Lucy growled while I had an inner conflict whether to smile or to pale at what she said.

"Why's that?" I noticed that she stopped from what she was doing, and…wait, was she blushing?

She instantly ripped her hand from her pocket and smacked it onto my palm, "Here! Give that to Blue when you get home. And fix yourself!" she turned away and I looked at the object on my hand, it was a collar, light blue in color with a silver plate and a name on it. Lucy had named the dog I picked up on the street when we got to her house that day, 'Blue' she said.

I smiled a bit before heading home.  
_

The next I met her, it was graduation day. I admit I was sad, this was the last chance I was ever seeing Lucy again, and truth be told, she was my only friend in this school. So it was to my surprise when she approached me as I was going home.

"Natsu!"

I turned and saw her running towards me, "What is it, Lucy-san?"

"Drop the damned '-san', will you?! We spent highschool together and you still haven't gotten rid of that pathetic honorific," she huffed

"Alright," I tried to get on her good side, no way was I getting beat up for the last time, "So, what did you want?"

She turned away, blushing, "I…I just wanted to say…goodbye. Since, I'll probably never see you again."

My thought process stopped. Yeah, that was right, I was probably never going to see her again.

"Thanks for everything, Natsu. Thanks for sticking up with me. I've never had a friend before,"

"What?" I asked, "What do you mean you've never had a friend before?"

"I never get close to people," she explained, "I was taught from the start that everyone was just going to leave. That I was going to be left alone someday, so…I tried to toughen out my attitude and push everyone away. Until…"

"Until?"

"Until that day you helped me in the rain. I tried to bully you almost every day but you still tried to help me. So thanks…for being a friend," she smiled sadly, "I'm going now, Natsu"

So that was why. It was cruel if you ask me, telling a girl she was going to be left alone someday. It was probably one of the orphanage people that she told me about on one of our rare talks. She grew up in an orphanage after all.

I grabbed her and pulled her into a hug.

"What are you doing, idiot!"

"No"

"What?" her voice was laced in confusion and she stopped squirming from my grasp

"You're not going to be left alone, Lucy," I whispered, the wind started to pick up and silence enveloped us

"H...How do you know that?" I could feel my shirt get wet, she was crying, "How do you know I'm not going to be left alone, when you too are leaving?"

I put my chin on top of her head, "I'm not leaving"

"What?"

"I'm not leaving," I repeated, making sure she got my message

"What do you mean? We're moving to college, idiot! And who knows whether we'll still be in the same school or not!" She sobbed, clutching onto my shirt

"Then I'll follow you," I grinned, "I'll move in your neighborhood, and it'll be luck if we're in the same school!"

"Why would you do that?" Lucy whispered "Why would you do that, you idiot?!"

"Because I'm your friend," I pulled away, looked at her in the eye and wiped the tears from her cheeks, "And I promise, I won't leave you"

She only cried further and hugged me again, "So stay with me, 'kay?" I whispered, hugging her back

"Y-yeah,"

I smiled, here I was the outcast of my school, promising another loner like me that she'll never be alone.

And I intend to keep that promise.

"_We'll always be together, right? Lucy?"_


	4. 04 Everything's alright

He sighed. He was tired from their latest mission. He stopped the car engine and looked out the car window. Night time. They were near the edge of a cliff that faced the sea and the wind was blowing quite fast. There was no one else there…so…maybe it was alright to have some alone time.

Natsu stepped out of the vehicle and closed the door behind him, taking a deep breath as he did so.

Inhale. Exhale.

He smiled before walking closer to the cliff edge and looking up the sky. It was cloudless tonight, the stars in full view and looking down on him blatantly. It was beautifully peaceful. And it was on nights like these that he never had to worry about losing his confidence in front of so many people. He needed some rest from the world sometimes. He turned around to face his car. His sleek, beautiful, baby. He grinned, this thing was his life.

His mind wandered to the passenger who was asleep in it, though.

His partner and bestfriend, Lucy Ashley, who was currently out like a light in the back seat. She was just as tired as he was from their mission, maybe even more. It wasn't a very easy mission, and Lucy had done something reckless in the midst of it because she believed she could handle the situation, resulting in her receiving critical injuries. Natsu sighed at the memory. Really, this girl cause him an unnecessary amount of worry sometimes.

He looked up the sky again, his eyes focused on the moon. He sighed before running a hand through his hair, "What am I gonna do with you?" he smiled sadly, "You're just so reckless sometimes. Do you even know how much I worry?"

Another breeze went by.

"Where would I be without you anyway?" he smiled to himself. The boy put his hand down and lingered for a full minute on the spot. He sighed again, turned and went back to car. He started to engine again before taking one more look at the sleeping girl in the backseat. He smiled. Because somehow he knew,

…that everything's alright.


	5. 05 Greenlight

Lucy Ashley had always hated her birthday.

Even more than she hated all other holidays.

She hated New Year's, mostly because she could never find the time to sleep at night when everyone else was up and chattering or waiting for midnight to strike. But it was worse when you were in Fairy Tail. Even the day was loud, they would be all over the place, cooking food for the midnight celebration, decorating, or helping the townspeople with the celebration. Every now and then, there was a fight ─ not that she enjoyed one ─ but it was always over the top every New Year's Eve. That, and Dragion was nowhere in sight.

Then, there was Valentine's. She didn't particularly have any feelings about the holiday, since she didn't have any interest about human beings' strange obsession of reproduction, so was neutral. Although she liked the side-effect of it making the market filled with chocolates on sale. She loved sweets. And that fact that Dragion was always hanging around her on that day just annoyed her, overall she had mixed feelings about the holiday.

There was also Easter. Which was both fun and annoying for her. Fun because of the easter egg hunt that the guild held annually ─ which involved using weapons for acquiring the eggs (one time she lost her weapon while facing Levy and resorted to hitting the girl with a frying pan), forming teams, and even using vehicles, which she happened to have 'access' to ─ and annoying because of the constant fights with her and Levy.

Mother's Day and Father's Day.

She LOATHED those two days in the year.

In fact, she wished they could just be erased from existence.

She usually spent her whole day inside her house, cooped up, without bothering to show up to the guild Of course, everyone else already knew. And they also understood. Growing up in an orphanage was a terrible experience for her, not that everyone was so bad to her, in fact it was the opposite. Although she would never show it, she loved everyone in there as much as she loved Fairy Tail. The horrible part was celebrating Mother's Day and Father's Day and watching everyone in pain. For those who were abandoned by their parents, those children longed for them, for those who abused, they feared them, and for some who just turned them into the orphanage…they hated them. The staff were kind enough to help them , but human emotions still stay. Time heals wounds, but the scars stay.

But she had always LOVED Halloween. Mostly because she had the time of her life making Natsu wet his pants out of fear. The other half because of the sweets she could get, even if she wasn't the type to go treat or trcking. Read: She 'campaigns' from the other guild members for the sweets (Natsu Dragion not included in the package).

And Christmas. Two words;

SCREW.

CHRISTMAS.

She hated the gift-givings, she hated the mushiness, she hated the bright lights, she hated the emotions she had when she longed that she could have somehow spent even one Christmas with her family, she hated the loud noise and she hated the rewinding carols on the lacrima.

Although Natsu's presents always made it worth it.

But she hated, hated, hated her birthday. Everyone in the guild made such a huge fuss over it, preparing a huge cake, setting up a huge banner, throwing confetti and treating her like a princess. No, from her point of view, she was being treated like a kid. When one time, she almost teared up because of all the messages her friends said on-stage, Levy had teased her, and no one ever forgot what happened that time.

It took several hours to get all the cake icing off of her and the entire guild.

She didn't hate everything though, because everytime she got home, with mixed up emotions of how everyone else made such a huge fuss over her birthday, one person would make it a special occasion to visit and bring her a gift.

"Hey"

And in the end, she realized that maybe she did love her birthday after all.


	6. 06 Comparison

Natsu Dragion is intelligent, reserved and kind. Away from the only thing that gives him his confidence and arrogance – his car – he is silent, shy and easily intimidated, but is calculating and is a keen observer. He likes to be alone most of the time. He loves reading and likes to keep his things organized and tidy; he takes very good care of his goggles and cleans his car at a regular schedule. He takes care of himself very well.

Lucy Ashley is smart, cunning and violent. She likes fighting with people (Levy most especially) and trains hard every day to keep her abilities at their sharpest and is a tad bit brutal, but is very protective of the guild and family. She likes candy, fast rides, bullying Natsu and has a slight interest in books. She lightly organizes her stuff and is reasonably tidy with her things, but not to the same OCD level as her pink-haired companion.

That's why both of them found it funny when they met their counterparts from Earthland.

Natsu Dragneel was loud, annoying, boisterous, stupid, hot-headed and violent. Dragion could have taken every negative comment he had in his head and throw it at the dragon slayer and it would still somehow fit.

But, maybe that was pushing it.

Lucy Heartfilia was intelligent, gentle and kind. Not much of a difference with Ashley at the brain power field, but completely opposite with the way they presented themselves towards people. Ashley masked her real emotions with violence, Heartfilia controlled herself accordingly to what society accepted as proper.

"You'd get along with her know," Ashley once told Dragion, "She's smart and kind, you two would look good together."

Dragion kept himself from visibly shaking his head and just settled for silence. He also thought that maybe, Ashley would get along with Dragneel. They were both violent, loud and both of them would certainly give each other a good fight when both tempers flared at peak. But, if that was so, then why was Dragneel in Earthland and he is Edolas?

When the Earthland mages were finally heading home (violently pulled out of Edolas?), Lucy Ashley had approached him, who was sitting up, watching the mages float up the sky and disappear into the vortex up there.

"Hey"

"Yeah?"

"Don't you…you know, at least wanna follow her? You didn't really get close to her, she was pretty cute," the blonde sat down beside him and looked up as well

"Why would I do that?"

Ashley snorted, "I told you you'd look good together"

He chuckled.

"Don't be silly. She's not you."


End file.
